Ultrasonic diagnostic vibration transducer



March 14, 1967 M. VON ARDENNE ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSTIC VIBRATION TRANSDUCER f5 Sheets-Sheet l Original Filed March 2 1962 1 WENT on MAW/eef@ #Pof/1w@ March 14, 1967 M. voN ARDENNE ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSTIC VIBRATION TRANSDUCER 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original Filed March 2, 1962 WEQQWENM s kwh QS u INVENTOR MAA/rego V, woe/VME United States Patent 3,309,655 ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSTIC VIBRATION TRANSDUCER Manfred von Ardenne, Dresden-Weisser, Hirsch, Germany, assignor to Veb Transformatorenund Rontgenwerk Dresden, Dresden, Germany Original application Mar. 2, 1962, Ser. No. 177,062, now Patent N0. 3,245,251, dated Apr. 12, 1966. Divided and this application Aug. 25, 1965, Ser. No. 482,410 4 Claims. (Cl. 340-15) The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic vibration transducer and, in particular, to such an apparatus where, in a particular, preferred application, an ultrasonic beam is used for echo sounding human tissues, and the resulting echoes are separately recorded as to their travel time which corresponds to the depth at which they were reected.

This is a divisional application of my co-pending patent application Ser. No. 177,062, led Mar. 2, 1962, entitled, Ultrasonic Diagnostic Testing Apparatus, now U.S. Patent 3,245,251 of April 12, 1966.

In prior-art apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis, two principles may be distinguished. According to the iirst principle, the variations in the transmission of the ultrasonic waves are the basis for the diagnosis, while according to the second principle, the reiiections are relied on for the diagnosis. The rst method is usually referred to as the transmission method and the second as the echo method.

It is also known to use a separate transmitter and receiver for the echo method, and to place them one adjacent to the other, coupling each to the body to be investigated. However, for pulse operation, the transmitter is usually also used as the receiver.

Frequencies of the order of 2 megacycles up to 15 megacycles have been used. The use of ultrasonic lens systems for the focusing of the ultrasonic rays is also known, and so are spherical convergence type vibration transducers which concentrate the ultrasonic beam onto a very small predetermined region of the tissue, and which are also used to receive the echo pulses.

In known apparatus, the ultrasonic echoes are converted into proportional voltages which are fed, for instance, to an oscillograph or an oscilloscope. The timeaxis detiection of the cathode-ray tube is synchronized with the pulse-recurrence frequency.

Alternatively, the ultrasonic transmitter is guided in lines along the tissue to be examined and the returned echoes control the intensity of an electron beam of a cathode-ray tube, While the beam deliection is synchronized with the transmitter displacement. These a-pparatus record a supersonic image. However, in most instances, diiculties arise in this type of equipment due to the plurality of echo pulses, usually of different intensities, which are due to the layer structure of the tissues and to multiple reflections.

The present invention is concerned with ultrasonic diagnostic vibration transducers which use the echo sounding principle. The same transducer is preferably used as a transmitter and as a receiver. A spherical convergence-type vibration transducer is used to concentrate the ultrasonic beam onto a very small predetermined region of the tissue under examination. The received echo pulse is converted into a corresponding voltage pulse which controls a deflection of an electron beam of a cathode-ray tube; the other electron-beam deflection is synchronized with the pulse-recurrence frequency.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide, by means of the inventive diagnostic testing transducers, an image of a predetermined thin layer of the tissue under examination.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a transducer apparatus which permits the distinction of pulses received fromy different depths, but the same location of the tissue under investigation.

It is another object of the invention to present, with the transducer, a dimensional image of the tissue under investigation, which image represents the area underlying a predetermined path along the tissue.

It is still another object of the invention to eliminate in the obtained image reflections and dispersions from regions, other than the immediate region to be examined, from being overlappingly recorded. In particular, reflections from only a limited depth interval are displayed.

It is a further object of the present invention to use ultrasonic Waves o-f one millimeter wavelength or less with the inventive transducer and to focus the ultrasonic beam onto areas of the order of one or only a few millimeters.

For this purpose, the invention uses the known expedient of providing a gaseous medium at the rear of a transducer and a liquid in front of the same. Further, a diaphragm with a small opening is positioned at the point of convergence of the ultrasonic beam, and spaced from the diaphragm is an ultrasonic convergence lens which images or projects the diaphragm aperture onto the region of the tissue under investigation.

Applicants U.S. Patent 3,245,251, issued on a copending patent application of which this is a divisional application, relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic testing apparatus which makes use of the novel transducer forming the subject matter of the present application.

In the testing apparatus as described in the above-mentioned patent, the pulse selection and the intensity control may be improved by controllin-g a photocell by the fluorescence due to the echo pulses, as is known in the art. The photocell receives the light through a masking slot which extends in the direction indicative of the intensity of the echo pulses and which corresponds in width to the time-delay interval equivalent to the depth interval under investigation. A graded light filter is interposed between the iiuorescent 'screen and the photocell to control the intensity -of the picture elements. The graded light filter permits more light to impinge on the photocell for larger deflections of the beam corresponding to the intensity of the echo pulses. Thus, the amount of light received by the photocell is a measure for the intensity of the reflected ultrasonic beam.

Further, in the aforementioned testing apparatus, an apparatus as known in the art guides the ultrasonic-beam focal point in parallel lines along the tissue area to be examined. The relative motion betwe-en the body and the ultrasonic equipment results in a 1ine-byline scanning of a desired area. The location of a writing point in an image recorder is synchronized with this scanning motion.

It will be understood that the vibration transducer according to the present invention could be used in many different ultrasonic testing combinations as a source of vibrations, or simply to induce vibrations in any desired object.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein FIG. l is a schematic illustration of an ultrasonic diagnostic vibration transducer according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the inventive vibration transducer, similar to that of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary operative connection of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, as disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,245,251, using the transducer according tothe invention; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective, somewhat schematic view of certain elements of the diagnostic arrangement shown in FIG. 3.

In FIG. 1, the inventive ultrasonic diagnostic vibration transducer is generally designated 21. A conventional spherical convergence-type transducer 11 is shown which may operate both as transmitter and as receiver. This may be a barium-titanate vibration transducer having a frequency of between 2 and 40 megacycles. Transducer 11 is mounted inside and close to one end of a preferably cylindrical housing 12. A gaseous medium 13, such as air, contacts the side of transducer 11 which faces away from the body under examination, Iand a liquid medium 14, for instance water, contacts the side of the transducer 11 which faces towards the body under examination.

A disc-shaped diaphragm 15 is arranged in the focal plane of transducer 11. An aperture 16 of diaphragm 15 has a diameter of the order of one millimeter. An ultrasonic lens 17, which is a poor reflector, is mounted close to the other end of housing 12, the lens presenting a point image of aperture 16 of the diaphragm 15 at a predetermined depth of the body to be studied. Housing 12 is closed by a foil 18.

The human body to be examined, as a matter of example, is designated 19. The transducer is coupled to the body by a layer of liquid 10, for instance water. The ultransonic beam reflected by the object 19 is focused during the return path onto aperture 16 by the same ultrasonic lens 17. The ultrasonic beam impinges on the barium-titanate vibration transducer 11 which is connected to operate as an acoustic microphone to supply a control voltage, for example, for a cathode-ray tube (see the exemplary apparatus described later in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4).

A special embodiment of the inventive arrangement, based on the schematic showing of FIG. 1, is illustrated in FIG. 2. The cylindrical housing 12 is in the shape of a tube having a wall thickness of approximately millimeters and being made of polyvinyl chloride or a similar material. The lower end of the housing is closed by the foil 18. The upper end of housing 12 is provided with a closure 123 carrying the following elements: a duct 124 for a high-frequency cable 12S, a rubber gasket 126 and a mount 127 for the attachment of t-he cover.

The transducer, generally designated 11, comprises a holding ring 11S for a spherical convergence-type transducer element 119. The latter is clamped within the system with the aid of a thrust collar 110 made of an insulating material, by means of setscrews 111 passing through a ring 112. The transducer element 119 rests on a gasket 113. Ring 118 also carries a guide rod 114 on which the diaphragm and the ultrasonic lens system 17 are slidably attached.

It is the advantage of the inventive transducer arrangement that the beam reflected and dispersed in areas surrounding the focal point is attenuated to a large extent. This reduced intensity results from the fact that the ultransonic lens 17 does not focus these parts of the radiation within the plane of diaphragm 15, but either before or behind the same. The attenuation of this undesired radiation increases with the opening ratio of lens 17.

Further, the beam reflected in the focal plane of the investigated body may be selected by recording only those echoes for which the time delay corresponds to the time interval required for the pulse to travel to a predetermined depth and to return from there.

For this purpose, the echo-pulse output of ultrasonic transducer 11 may be fed to a cathode-ray tube which is synchronized with the pulse-recurrence frequency. The region corresponding to the time delay of the studied areas is preferably selected by a slot extending in the direction of the echo-intensity deliection. The echo uorescence thus selected on the cathode-ray tube screen controls the brightness of an image, for instance, by means of a photocell apparatus. These and other features of the inventive arrangement will be more fully described with regard to 4 FIGS. 3 and 4, identical with the same figures of the above-identified U.S. Patent 3,245,251.

A graded light filter may be inserted between the iiuorescent screen and the photocell, which permits increased amounts of light to reach the photocell as the echo-pulse intensity increases.

It is known to move the beam focus periodically and line-by-line over the tissues to be studied. The relative motion of the ultrasonic transducer and the body results in a linear scanning of an area on the body. The position of a writing spot of an image-producing instrument is synchronized with this scanning motion of the transducer.

The block diagram of FIG. 3 illustrates a possible electrical interconnection of the inventive ultrasonic diagnostic transducer 21 with the various elements in the patented testing apparatus. The transducer system 21 (see FIG. l or 2) is coupled to the moving part of an image-recording device 23 over a scanning mechanism 22. Owing to this arrangement, the writing spot always corresponds to the position of the transducer system on the scanned surface at a given time.

As a matter of example, the image-producing or recording device 23 may comprise, in a manner known per se, photographic paper or film as the image carrier; the lightsensitive material is introduced and a light bulb masked with a shield or diaphragm is guided thereover The bulb is fed by a brightness-regulating device 33 which, in turn, is controlled by a photocell 31.

The transducer system 21 is excited by a high-frequency pulse emitter 24 driven by a multivibrator 25. Upon return of the echo pulses, these are again converted into voltage pulses in the transducer system 21. These pulses are applied to the vertical deflection plates of a cathode-ray tube 28 by way of a limiter 26 and an intercalated amplifier 27, as shown in FIG. 3. The purpose of the limiter is to protect the amplifier from overload by the emitter pulses.

While the cathode ray is deflected in the y direction by the voltage pulses obtained from the echoes, their deflection in the x direction results from the action of a sweep-voltage generator 29, in a manner known in the art of cathode-ray tube circuits.

In order positively to exclude echoes emanating from other, unwanted zones from being evaluated, a slot diaphragrn oriented in the y axis is arranged in front of the cathode-ray tube 28. The slot diaphragm, designated 30, is schematically shown in FIG. 3 and with some detail in FIG. 4. The width of the slot corresponds to the thickness of the tissue layer being examined, in conformity with the deflection velocity in the x direction.

A graded light filter 32 is arranged between the slot diaphragm and the photocell 31 (FIGS. 3 and 4). The gradual transmission of filter 32 is such that the light of the cathode-ray tube screen is greatly attenuated when deection from the x axis is small. On the other hand, when deflection is of a high order, i.e., when the incoming echo pulses have high intensities, the light is only slightly attenuated or is not influenced at all. Since the voltage controlled by the photocell is directly proportional to the light impinging thereon, the result is that the image recorder 23 strongly illuminates the record produced therein (paper or film document of the diagnositic investigation). The record will thus be darkened in those places and at those moments when the echo has a high intensity, and vice versa.

The result is an echo image having a high proportion of intermediate tonal values between black and whi-te, thus permitting conclusions to be drawn regarding the intensity of the received echo pulses. It should be noted that the necessity to combine the novel vibration transducer with an image recorder as described herein results from the requirement to obtain a sectional or layer image composed of graduated intermediate tonal values and having a high degree of resolution.

A few additional considerations and explanations seem to be in order with regard to certain operational features of the inventive arrangement for ultrasonic diagnosis. Thus, it is not only the presence or absence of a reflecting spot, or echo pulse emanating therefrom, which should be indicated, but also its intensity in intermediate (gray) tone graduations. Without the use of the graded light filter the photocell would generate a constant voltage when hit by the incoming echo pulses, and regardless their intensity, because with greater deections the light ray becomes less bright. Without a graded light filter it is, therefore, impossible to obtain an image having intermediate tone values.

The longitudinal dimensions of the masking or slot diaphragm are so chosen that even the longest echo can be recorded. The diaphragm can thus be provided in the form of two simple plates. It is, however, desirable to arrange the slot diaphragm in such a manner that the zero line in the x axis is also masked by it.

Only the echoes emanating from the examined depth layer should be shown in the diaphragm slot. The depth is determined by the position of the slot on the x axis because the latter is the time-delay axis. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that a predetermined distance traveled by the waves and/0r the corresponding echoes can be correlated with a given time delay. The Width of the slot diaphragm thus also determines the thickness of the object layer from which the echoes are to be registered.

It is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim is:

1. In a diagnostic testing apparatus, the combination comprising a convergence-type transducer adapted to emit and receive ultrasonic pulses and having a focal point, a gaseous medium adjacent the convex surface of said transducer and a liquid medium adjacent the concave surface thereof, a convergence-type lens spaced apart from said transducer, adapted to pass said ultrasonic pulses in either direction and also having a focal point, and a diaphragm substantially midway between said transducer and said lens, and having an aperture coinciding with said focal point of the transducer, said lens being adapted both to project said aperture onto a predetermined object area to be diagnosed at its focal point, and to return echoes of said ultrasonic pulses to said diaphragm and to said transducer, which are reflected from said focal point of the lens, an elongated, substantially cylindrical housing, an annular holding member close to one end of said housing for mounting said transducer, and means attached to said holding member for mounting said diaphragm and said lens with freedom of individual adjustment with respect to said transducer.

2. In a diagnostic testing apparatus, the combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing has a wall thickness of about 5 millimeters and is made of plastic material, the other end of said housing being covered by a foil permeable by said ultrasonic pulses.

3. In a diagnostic testing apparatus, the combination as defined in claim 1, further comprising clamping means for removably and adjustably mounting said transducer in said holding member.

4. In a diagnostic testing apparatus, the combination as defined in claim 3, further comprising closure means for said one end of the housing, including air-tight duct means therein for an extraneous high-frequency conduit leading to said transducer, and means for attaching said closure means to said housing.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,467,301 4/1949 Firestone TS1- .5 X 2,913,602 11/1959 Joy 3l0-8.3 3,003,239 10/1961 Weidner et al. 18T-.5 X

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

P. A. SHANLEY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A DIAGNOSTIC TESTING APPARATUS, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING A CONVERGENCE-TYPE TRANSDUCER ADAPTED TO EMIT AND RECEIVE ULTRASONIC PULSES AND HAVING A FOCAL POINT, A GASEOUS MEDIUM ADJACENT THE CONVEX SURFACE OF SAID TRANSDUCER AND A LIQUID MEDIUM ADJACENT THE CONCAVE SURFACE THEREOF, A CONVERGENCE-TYPE LENS SPACED APART FROM SAID TRANSDUCER, ADAPTED TO PASS SAID ULTRASONIC PULSES IN EITHER DIRECTION AND ALSO HAVING A FOCAL POINT, AND A DIAPHRAGM SUBSTANTIALLY MIDWAY BETWEEN SAID TRANSDUCER AND SAID LENS, AND HAVING AN APERTURE COINCIDING WITH SAID FOCAL POINT OF THE TRANSDUCER, SAID LENS BEING ADAPTED BOTH TO PROJECT SAID APERTURE ONTO A PREDETERMINED OBJECT AREA TO BE DIAGNOSED AT ITS FOCAL POINT, AND TO RETURN ECHOES OF SAID ULTRASONIC PULSES TO SAID DIAPHARGM AND TO AID TRANSDUCER, WHICH ARE REFLECTED FROM SAID FOCAL POINT OF THE LENS, AN ELONGATED, SUBSTANTIALLY CYLINDRICAL HOUSING, AN ANNULAR HOLDING MEMBER CLOSED TO ONE END OF SAID HOUSING FOR MOUNTING SAID TRANSDUCER, AND MEANS ATTACHED TO SAID HOLDING MEMBER FOR MOUNTING SAID DIAPHRAGM AND SAID LENS WITH FREEDOM OF INDIVIDUAL ADJUSTMENT WITH RESPECT TO SAID TRANSDUCER. 